Momma
by Bodge
Summary: Rachel needs her Mom, not her mother. Can Shelby step up or will Rachel be left to fend for herself?


I've been away for the weekend, I didn't get to write updates for my ongoing fics but I did manage to finish off a oneshot I started a while ago based on the prompt, "Rachel needs her Mom not her mother"

I don't have a specific time in mind for when this happened (maybe when Shelby came back to coach the Trouble Tones?) but there's no Beth in this AU at all, Quinn never got pregnant, Shelby didn't adopt anyone's baby.

If you have any Shelby/Rachel prompts you'd like me to try and write, then feel free to share!

* * *

Shelby frowned as she saw Rachel walk past her classroom. Again. It was almost 4pm, school had been out for nearly an hour and Shelby was trying to finish her marking like she did every night, preferring to stay at school until it was done so she could just switch off and relax once she was home. Seeing Rachel briefly pause outside her classroom once again, Shelby finished marking the paper she was working on and placed it on the pile with the essays she'd already checked, the rest could wait for now, and she stood up, smoothing out invisible creases from her trousers as she made her way over to the door to wait.

"Hey" her patience paid off and she spoke softly when she saw Rachel approach again, "everything okay?"

Rachel froze, "yeah" she stuttered, unusually nervous, "I… I'm fine."

"Did you want to speak to me?"

"I…" Rachel was trying to keep herself together, trying to keep her show face in place but she could feel her hands shaking, her heart pounding in her chest, she wanted to be sick.

"You've passed my room seven times in the past thirty minutes" Shelby told her, gesturing for Rachel to follow her into her room, "what is it?" She took a seat at a desk at the front of the room, pushing out the chair beside her for Rachel to sit down. She watched the girl, saw how her gaze never left the table, how she picked at the skin around her fingernails, "Rachel" Shelby frowned, "is something wrong?"

Rachel took a deep breath, she'd had this whole conversation planned out, but now, now her mind was empty, "I need my Mom" she whispered as her tears threatened to fall. "I know you said that you're my Mother not my Mom but I, I'm scared and I can't tell my Dads and you're the only Mom, Mother I've got and I, I need you to be my Mom, I can't..."

"Rachel" Shelby would be lying if she said she wasn't worried about her daughter, "what is it?" she asked, reaching for her hand, taking hold of it to stop her picking at the skin around her fingernails.

"I'm late" Rachel whispered as she gestured to her stomach, "I… I'm late."

"How late?" Shelby asked.

Rachel bit her lip, "almost three weeks."

Shelby closed her eyes, exhaling slowly to calm herself, "I take it that you have reason to believe it's more than just an irregular cycle?"

"We were safe" Rachel's head snapped up, tears rolling down her cheeks, "we used condoms."

"Okay" Shelby stood, grabbing a few tissues from a box on her desk, handing them to Rachel before sitting beside her, "have you taken a test."

Rachel shook her head, "I, I don't…"

"I think you need to do one" Shelby squeezed Rachel's hand gently, "you need to know. You could be worrying about nothing."

"What if I'm not?"

"Then at least you know and you can start thinking through your options."

Rachel nodded, her fingers still linked with Shelby's as she asked, "will you be there? When I take the test?"

Shelby glanced at the clock, "of course, but don't you need to let your dads know where you are?"

Rachel shook her head, "Daddy's away in Washington for work until Friday, and Dad plays tennis with colleagues after work on a Wednesday, they go out to eat and socialise afterwards, he won't be home until around 9."

"Okay" Shelby stood, beginning to gather her things, including the last few essays that needed marking, "shall we go now?" she asked, "get it over with."

Rachel would rather do, literally, anything other than take a pregnancy test, but she knew Shelby was right, Rachel knew she needed to know, and she knew that the sooner she knew the better so she simply nodded, "yeah" she whispered, "okay."

Shelby nodded and packed away her things, "have you got everything?" she asked as she picked up her own bag.

Rachel nodded, "yeah, I… yeah."

"Okay" Shelby could tell how terrified Rachel was, so she held out her hand, smiling sadly when Rachel gripped it tightly, allowing Shelby to lead her through the corridors and out of the school, "let's go".

The drive passed in silence, Rachel too nervous to speak and Shelby not sure what she could say to make Rachel feel any better about the situation she'd found herself in. She'd found herself in a similar situation when she'd been 16 only she hadn't wanted anyone else to know and had taken the, thankfully negative, pregnancy test alone in the bathroom at school, and she only hoped that the test she was about to buy for Rachel would have the same result.

"Do you want to stay here?" Shelby asked as she pulled up outside a pharmacy, "or do you want to come in?"

Rachel frowned as she looked up at Shelby she hadn't even realised they'd stopped, "I…" she'd been over thinking everything, trying to imagine how her fathers would react if the test was positive, how her life would change, how she'd have to give up on everything she'd ever dreamed of, all for one careless mistake, she thought they'd been careful, she'd insisted on condoms, she thought she was being responsible and now she wished she'd just said no, that she'd waited until she was 25 like she'd always planned.

"Oh Rachel" Shelby could see the tears shining in her eyes, knew from experience just how scared she'd be, "you wait here, I'll be as quick as I can" she promised, knowing that there was nothing she could say that would change how Rachel was feeling.

She made her way into the store, quickly buying what she needed and heading back to her daughter, frowning when she saw Rachel stood by the car, bent double as she heaved into the gutter, "I'm sorry" Rachel whispered when she felt Shelby pull back her hair and gently rub her back.

"It's okay" she reassured her, "you're okay." Shelby said a brief prayer to anyone that was listening that Rachel's nerves were the reason for her vomiting and not anything else. "Do you think you're done?" she asked softly once Rachel seemed to have stopped. Rachel nodded and Shelby helped her back into the car, rummaging in the back seat before finding a half full bottle of water and offering it to Rachel, "sip it slowly" she told her as she put the car into reverse and backed out of the parking lot.

"Thank you" Rachel whispered, letting out a shaky breath before sipping at the water, grateful for the chance to rinse the taste of bile from her throat.

"Can I get you anything?" Shelby asked once they were stood in her apartment, the drive once again having passed in silence.

Rachel shook her head, "I… can I just get it over and done with?" her stomach was empty but she knew she was sure she'd vomit if she had to wait any longer, she couldn't believe that her entire future depended on whether one line or two would show up on a stick she peed on.

Shelby nodded and took the box from her bag, "it's a two pack" she explained, "if it's negative now then you should do the second one first thing in the morning, just to be sure."

"Thanks" Rachel took the box with shaking hands, "do I, do I just pee on it?" she was well aware that there'd be instructions in the box but she wasn't sure if she'd be able to focus long enough to read them.

"Can I…" Shelby held out her hand, taking the box from Rachel, opening it and unfolding the instruction sheet as Rachel watched on, nervously chewing at the skin around her fingernails. "Take the cap off the end, hold it in your urine for five seconds then put the cap back on, lay it flat and wait three minutes" she read before looking up at Rachel, "okay?" wanted to reach out, to pull Rachel close and tell her everything was going to be okay, but she wasn't sure if Rachel would appreciate that or not and the last thing he wanted was to make the girl any more uncomfortable than she already was.

Rachel nodded as she took the box back from Shelby, "five seconds, wait for three minutes" she repeated. She wanted to be sick, she couldn't believe this was happening to her, she wanted to wake up, she wanted to find this had all been some sick dream, but she knew it wasn't, she knew she didn't have any other option, she wasn't going to wake up, she was about to use her estranged mother's bathroom to find out if her entire world was about to change.

"Do you need a glass of water or…" Shelby was lost, she didn't know how to mother a teen, she certainly didn't know how to deal with something like this. She'd dealt with a lot as a high school teacher, but she'd never had a student come to her with a pregnancy scare, she just had her own experience to draw from but that had been nothing like this. She'd realised her period was late as she was getting ready one morning, bought a pregnancy test from the 7-eleven on her way to school and taken it before the first bell, seeing the negative result and throwing the test away, her period starting three days later helping her forget the whole thing. But for whatever reason, Rachel had come to her for support and reassurance, and Shelby was determined to do her very best to give her daughter what she needed.

"No" Rachel shook her head, "I...I think I'll be okay, where erm, where's the bathroom."

"Sorry" Shelby shook her head, unable to believe she'd forgotten the girl didn't know her way around the apartment, "just down the hall, first door on the left, or my room is at the end of the hall, there's an ensuite in there, use whichever you're more comfortable with."

"Thank you" Rachel took a shaky breath, she wasn't sure she'd be comfortable doing this anywhere, but she understood what Shelby meant, respected the fact that she was trying to make this as easy as possible for her, "I erm… I won't be long."

Shelby nodded, "take as long as you need" she reached out, gently squeezing Rachel's shoulder, getting a sad smile in response before Rachel headed into the bathroom.

She paced her kitchen as she waited for Rachel to return. This felt so strange, she was so out of her depth, she didn't know what she was doing, she didn't know what she was going to do if Rachel was pregnant, didn't know what Rachel would want her to do. Would Rachel want her to stick around and support her or did she just want someone there as she did the test.

Shelby thought briefly to the bottle of wine chilling in her fridge, wanted nothing more than to open it and pour herself a large glass to calm her nerves but she knew that was a bad idea, Rachel had trusted her enough to tell her something she was too scared to tell her fathers and she wasn't about to do anything to betray that trust.

"Rachel?" Shelby stepped into the hall when she heard the bathroom door open, trying and failing to read the expression on her daughter's face,

"I can't" Rachel whispered as she shook her head, desperately trying to hold back her tears, trying to keep herself together, "I can't look, can you…"

Shelby nodded, she'd rather do anything at all than find out if the teenage daughter she'd tried to walk away from was pregnant or not, but Rachel needed her to be strong, "of course" she smiled softly as she slipped passed the girl and made her way into the bathroom.

Rachel looked up as she saw Shelby in the bathroom door, her expression once again unreadable, "Rachel" she whispered as she stepped into the hall, plastic stick in her hand, she knew there was no easy way to break this to her daughter so she just said it, "it's positive, you're pregnant."

Rachel's expression didn't change, her walls still firmly in place, "oh" she whispered, feeling her heart stop in her chest. "Right. Thank you."

Shelby frowned as Rachel turned to leave, realising the girl was in shock she dropped the pregnancy test onto the side before she reached out and took hold of her daughter's hand, tugging gently, forcing the girl to turn towards her, "Rachel" she said softly, and that was all it took, Rachel crumpled in Shelby's arms and began to sob. "Oh baby" she whispered as Rachel clung to her, "It's okay, you're okay."

"Momma" Rachel's sob broke Shelby's heart, tears filling her eyes as she pulled Rachel even closer.

"Momma's here" she whispered as she felt Rachel cling to her, "Momma's got you, it'll be okay."


End file.
